DISCOSCENE ’81, the big Midlands equipment exhibition, is this Sunday (17) from noon until 7pm at Solihull’s St John’s Hotel in Warwick Road (M42 exit 2, A41 branching left through Solihull town centre, and it’ll be on the right), admission £1 . . . Linx’s LP has (guess what) been remixed for US release and is now in on import – so how many mixes of ‘You’re Lying’ does that make it? – and Light Of The World’s ‘Best Of’ has been remixed for Mercury LP release soon . . . Kool & The Gang ‘Celebration’ in a usefully different Spanish-sung ‘Celebremos’ 121-123-122-123bpm alternative version is on promo 12in and out here next week (as flip of ‘Take It To The Top’), along with Thelma Houston, Esther Williams, Leon Bryant ‘Something More’, Starpoint ‘I Want To Be Your Lover’ . . . Claudia Fontaine ‘Natural High’ has been picked up by Decca . . . David Bendeth’s official plugside is now ‘Just Demix’ . . . ‘Spur Of The Moment’ amazingly is the one track omitted from the 7in of Jeff Lorber Fusion’s single . . . Excaliber’s imminent release of Eastside Connection flipped by Love Symphony Orchestra kicks off a new label series tagged DJ Purposes Only featuring double A-side proven disco classics of yesteryear . . . CBS have re-released all four of Bob James’s original albums – ‘One’, ‘Two’, ‘Three’, ‘BJ 4’ – at just £2.74 each . . . Suzy Q ‘Get On Up And Do It Again’ vocal pattern is actually more Yarbrough & Peoples than Young & Company . . . Stephanie Mills’ 12in version is 107-108-107-108bpm, and Bobby Thurston’s ‘Is Something Wrong With You’ intro seems in fact to be nearer 111bpm to judge from the amount of vari-speed needed to mix out of Gino Soccio! . . . Evasions ‘Wikka Rap’ was turned down by most major record companies, who are now all queuing at Groove’s door begging for a bit of the action following the record’s explosion in London last week! . . . Evasions on 7in is more coherently edited and has a preferable fading instrumental finish, so it’s worth chopping out of the 12in instrumental into the last half of the 7in . . . Phil Blizzard (Stoke-On-Trent 0782-263876 afternoons except Thursday) is doing an in-store “radio” programme recorded at his own studio and repeated five times during Saturdays to plug new releases, special offers and the like in Hanley’s Lotus Records (Staffordshire’s major record store) – call him for details if you’ve anything to plug . . . Al Taylor is now resident at North Wales’s top country club/disco just outside Rhyl, Poppey’s – an excellent promotional showcase, sez Al, so interested record companies can call him on 0745-825111 ext 3 . . . Pinnacle have been building up their distribution network, but now with a redesigned label logo, plan more releases of their own including disco material again . . . Stuart Robinson (Leeds) wonders who’s plugging for Pye these days – a good question – isn’t it the ever-reliable Morgan Khan? . . . Abba fans are clamouring chequebook in hand for copies of the special Disconet remix for subscriber DJs only of ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’, which for copyright reasons is absolutely definitely unavailable to members of the public (annoying, innit?!) . . . Ellen Williams (Billingham) can’t find Tantra anywhere – why not try mail order from our advertisers? . . . Paul Doner of Ireland’s Waterford-based Suirside Radio produces a Disco Top 30 chart but can’t get a lot of the records – like Whispers, Shalamar, Freeez, LOTW, Kleeer, Shakatak, Level 42, Firefly, Gap Band, Dynasty, LAX, MFSB (if this isn’t an Irish joke, why even attempt to compile a show of unavailable records?!) . . . Holborn’s City Sounds record shop is actually staying open on Thursdays until 8pm . . . Mark Clark (Bracknell) suggests the best way to fly to New York is COSH – Concorde Out, Skytrain Home – which works out about the same as a charter flight and gives you an extra day in the Big Apple (but who wants to pay charter fare, or go to Gatwick?) . . . Phonogram’s ladykiller Orin Cozier has had his hair curled – talk about Nappy Brown! . . . Groove Weekly celebrated a year of publication with a party at Hemel Hempstead Hustlers last Sunday . . . EMI have a nice pair of badges, saying “Hi De Hi!” and “Ho De Ho!” . . . Mayfair Gullivers now boasts a pair of video projection screens upstairs, and downstairs starting next month George Power will be jazzing Tuesdays . . . Liverpool’s orange-coated Mike Davidson somehow came out as Mick last week, sorry . . . Kev Hill (Basildon Sweeneys) is touting local jazz-funk group Elixia . . . Michael Jackson must have been checking vintage Elvis Presley footage for his fancy footwork on TV . . . Peter Young’s first hour last Saturday morning on Capital Radio was red hot ‘n’ soulful! . . . Fred Dove must realise I’d love to review all WEA products if only he’d send them – or maybe he wants me to buy them and bill his managing director for a refund? Record Shack presumably will spell Michael McGloiry correctly on the label of his ever so “jazz-funk” single! . . . Neil Fincham (Dunbar Craigengelt), who has ’em doing mutual press-ups to ‘Humpin’, says the latest catchphrase up his way is “silly not to” . . . HI DE HI!

UK NEWIES

THE QUICK: ‘Zulu’ (Epic EPC A 13-1119).
Since reviewing the white label of this dynamite MFSB-type walking bass driven cool 0-117bpm 12in blue-eyed vocal thudder with abrupt crescendos, my initial expectations of its crossover potential have been exceeded as it packs floors not only at disco, futurist, pop and jazz-funk gigs but with middle-aged dancers at MoR gigs too, at first time of hearing! Try vari-synching out of MFSB ‘Mysteries’, then chopping in Jeff Lorber ‘Spur’. Now it’s on (slightly slower) commercial 12in, there should be no stopping it.

SECOND IMAGE: ‘Get Your Finger Out’ (Polydor POSPX 263).
Robbie Vincent-plugged (I wonder why?) exuberantly rough and ready enthusiastically chanted brassy 125bpm 12in bounder (an American recording would never have had this open a mix), jaggedly broken into for a few instrumental spurts but basically pounding all the way through to the acappella cold finish. About on white label, it may not be available in shops for a week or so.

BENNY GOLSON: ‘The New Killer Joe Rap’ / ‘The New Killer Joe’ (CBS A 13-1223).
Let’s get something straight, the great greasy jive talk introductory rap is by Ted Lange, the wailing lady is Mortonette Jenkins, just the soprano sax solo being by Benny Golson – who also arranged this beautiful classily strutting 118-119(rap)-120-121bpm lush jazz tune in similar style to the way in which it originally appeared on his co-writer Quincy Jones’s old ‘Walking In Space’ album. Benny’s own later recording was only on desperately sought rare import LP until recently included on the ‘Bitter Suite’ UK compilation, and now here it is on 12in too. Rarity created a demand that may now have been deflated, though the music’s as buoyant as ever.

GRACE JONES: ‘I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)’ (LP ‘Nightclubbing’ Island ILPS 9624).
Eagerly awaited in certain quarters and fusing reggae with futurism even more strongly than before, the set’s killer of killers (due on single) is this reggae-ish 131-133-134bpm ticker with cool synth effects and a gorgeous accordion accompaniment giving it a subtle taste of tango. Bill Withers ‘Use Me’ also getting a more powerful sensational sparse 136-137-138-139-140-139bpm reggae treatment. ‘Pull Up To The Bumper‘- (the single’s flip) being a blatantly “disco” aimed 108-110-109bpm bumper vocally patterned on ‘The Bottle’. ‘Walking In The Rain‘ a spoken/sung sultry 65/130-66/132bpm ticker. ‘Feel Up‘ a bumpy 106-107-108-109bpm jolter, ‘Demolition Man’ a rather ugly 71/142-145bpm Sting song and the Bowie / Iggy Pop-penned title track a stark dead slow 38/77-39bpm mood piece.

MARVIN GAYE: ‘Heavy Love Affair’ (Motown 12TMG 1232).
Far and away his recent album’s biggie, the glorious whistling-introed ‘What’s Goin’ On’-type deceptively rhythmic 99-98-99bpm jiggly swayer is on 12in at last in its original short form.

JAMES BROWN: ‘Funky Men’ (RCA RCAT 65).
Finally sense has prevailed and the ‘Soul Syndrome’ set’s other great groove is on 12in. A typically strung out 120-114-119-116(“bridge”)-120-118-119-120bpm jittering brassy chanter. Incidentally, this and ‘Rapp Payback’ were obviously flukes, to judge from the rest of the session that Polydor will be releasing soon – be warned!

THIRD WORLD: ‘Dancing On The Floor (Hooked On Love)’ (CBS A 13-1214).
Finding them back on old form, this well produced interestingly progressing 57(intro)-115-116-117bpm 12in reggae based bubbler rather like Bob Marley (Jah rest his soul) has lots of pent up energy and a powerful mesh of staccato vocal patterns over intense rhythm playing.

SHARON REDD: ‘It’s A Lie’ (Epic EPC A 13-1210).
Not another ‘Can You Handle It’ although similarly structured (including more great guitar), this purposeful tense little 110-111-110bpm 12in jitterer is far stronger than the official ‘Love Is Gonna Get Ya‘ A-side, a pleasant enough but fairly pedestrian 113-114bpm languidly jiggly swaying jogger.

BETTY WRIGHT: ‘Body Slang’ (LP ‘Betty Wright’ Epic EPC 84882).
Delightful sensuously sung slinky 0-112-114bpm bouncer which I successfully mixed out of ‘Back Together Again’ (which in turn was out of Stephanie ‘Two Hearts’) much to everyone’s pleasure. The sets other goodie being a dead slow deep soul 17bpm ‘One Bad Habit (And That’s Loving You)’, although Stevie Wonder attempts another ‘Let’s Get Serious’ on the jittering 110bpm ‘What Are You Going To Do With It?’, a miss here on 7in.

STAR SOUND: ‘Stars On 45 – The Album’ LP (CBS 86132).
Jocks with the original ‘Bits & Pieces III’ obviously didn’t bother with the cover version, but even they should check this as side one contains nothing but Beatles snippets woven into an extended 124bpm medley ideal for parties.

SPOOKEY: ‘On The Rocks’ (Satril 12-HH 153).
Amazingly blatant crib on the old Heatwave format speeded up on 0-130bpm 12in, both backed on synthesizers and mixed by – you’ll never guess – Marvin Gaye!

IMPORTS

BARBARA ROY AND ECSTASY, PASSION AND PAIN: ‘If You Want Me’ (US Roy B. RBDS-2516).
Potentially another Geraldine Hunt, this steadily chugging sinuously sung 116-114(main bulk)-115(last part)bpm 12in creamily clomping thudder goes into a synthetically burbling clapping break and, then a great bass drum accented long instrumental run out (the girls reappear once briefly), the whole thing adding up in a nicely understated way to be one hell of a powerful record.

ROUND TRIP: ‘Woman’ (LP ‘Round Trip’ US MCA MCA-5194).
This annoyingly familiar strange atmospheric rolling bass-bumped deceptively fast 130-128-125(break)-127-126bpm thumper with organ between soulful vocals from the six guys/two girls group builds an unexpectedly strong groove like Change’s ‘Searching’ in flavour though neither treatment nor sound, while the funkier 122-121-122(bass)-124-120-123bpm ‘Nothing Wrong With Dancing‘ is more like Hamilton Bohannon. Producer Al Perkins then pouring on the One Way connection via the coolly jolting 115/58(intro)-121-122bpm ‘Let’s Go Out Tonight‘, ‘Not In The Cards’ being a beautiful wailing 31-33bpm deep soul smoocher and ‘Higher Consciousness’ a galloping 126bpm thudder. It may not get through to everyone, but I rather reckon this set.

MARLON McLAIN: ‘Close To You’ (LP ‘Changes’ US Fantasy F-9606).
The guitar-totin’ singer’s set has sadly short tracks but impeccable sidement. This in itself not exceptional brassy 121bpm smacker being an incredible synch out of Rick James, while Jeff Lorber plays pretty piano on the jazzily swaying instrumental 54/107bpm ‘Pastel‘, which will get most specialist attention. Other cuts are the beefily smacking 117bpm ‘Shake It Up‘, pleasantly jogging 108/54bpm ‘Star Of My life‘, soulfully tense 37-38/79bpm ‘Why’, jittery 104bpm ‘Do You Miss That Feelin’, tender 35bpm ‘Together In The Afternoon’, blandly bumping 111bpm ‘Don’t Run Away From Love’ and 114bpm ‘Can We Still Be Friends’.

ESTHER WILLIAMS: ‘Inside Of Me’ LP (US RCA AFL1-4023).
If you haven’t already got her great 110bpm ‘I’ll Be Your Pleasure’ 12in you’ll find the same mix here, along with a superb set of really soulfully sung songs none of which are actually as strong as the single but together with it make a better value purchase. Of the dancers, best is the chunkily pattering 118bpm ‘You Can Have It All‘, while ‘Ready For Love‘ is a toe-curling 34(intro)-36/73bpm slowie, other cuts being the 124-126bpm ‘You Can Use It‘, 114bpm ‘Who Said It Was Wrong’, 119-121bpm ‘Make It With You’ and 90/45-92bpm ‘Inside Of Me’. Her voice harks right back to those classic soulful ’60s!

THE WHISPERS: ‘I Can Make It Better’ (US Solar YD-12233).
Well known from their LP of course, this simple smooth 0-120-121bpm 12in smacker with busily bumbling bass undertow should soon be on UK 12in too (SOT 19). Last week’s BPM for Keni Burke (who is indeed a Stairstep) should be reduced to 119-120bpm. Happy birthday Stacey, sez Rowdy!

CASIOPEA: ‘Asayake (Sunrise)’ (LP ‘Eyes Of The Mind’ US Alfa AAA-10002).
Harvey Mason-produced Nipponese jazzers now on the recently started less expensive US version of their Japanese label with a highly acclaimed specialist instrumental set, hottest dancer being this percussively upfront acid guitar played attractive 112-113-114bpm plodder, while ‘Magic Ray‘ is a 34-35bpm synth smoocher, ‘Space Road‘ a frantic 143-147bpm Brazilian flier, ‘A Place In The Sun‘ a comes-and-goes 115-116bpm jogger, ‘Black Joke’ a 0-115bpm jagged jitterer and the title track a spiky 0-117-120-119bpm jolter.

THELMA HOUSTON: ‘Never Give You Up’ (LP ‘Never Gonna Be Another One’ (US RCA AFL13642).
Quite a nice set led off by this gently jittering 97-99bpm jogging swayer, with an interesting thudding 119bpm update of ? & The Mysterians ‘96 Tears‘ and lovely 27-56bpm deep soul revival of Dionne Warwick’s early ‘Don’t Make Me Over‘, while the title track is a jerky 105bpm tripper and ‘Hollywood’ a 60-120-121bpm lurcher.

STEPHANIE MILLS: ‘My Love’s Been Good To You’ (LP ‘Stephanie’ US 20th Century-Fox T-700).
Someone’s obviously told young Steph that she sounds like Diana Ross, the result this time being a beautifully packaged but rather bland set on which the grittiest cut is this steadily tapping 108/54bpm jogger, ‘Winner‘ being a lurching 122bpm jitterer, ‘Top Of My List‘ a creamily rolling 115bpm smooth thumper, ‘Don’t Stop Doin’ What ‘Cha Do’ a pleasant 37bpm smoocher, and ‘I Believe In Love Songs’ a sweetly tripping 111-110-111-110bpm swayer.

KLIQUE: ‘I Think You Know’ (LP ‘It’s Winning Time’ US MCA MCA-5198).
ConFunkShun co-produced two guys and a gal sound strongest on this jauntily tripping soulfully strained little 121-120-119bpm chugger with strings-like synth noises, the title track being a steadily jittering 123-122-123bpm smacker with a good break, ‘Middle Of A Slow Dance’ a lovely gentle 35-36-0bpm smoocher, while more mundane are the bass synth bumped 118bpm ‘Love’s Dance’, 122bpm ‘So In Love With You’ and 121bpm ‘From Now On’.

Editors Note: The war of words enters a third week. Record Shack say…..

“Firstly, congrats to Morgan Khan, not as reliable as James thinks, you’ve actually got a No.1 in my Charts! The ‘Ain’t No Stopping’ mixer bounded back to No.3 with huge increased sales and the Vogue 12” looks like it’s going to be this years monster. (You see, James and I do agree sometimes!).
We’ve edited a great 7in on Michael McGlory and put an instrumental remix on its flipside.”

Editors observation: Interesting to note that there was no ‘Electro-Disco’ section in this weeks column, no mention of anything Futurist in Odds ‘N’ Bods and only one Futurist single reviewed (Landscape) and it wasn’t described as such. In fact the word ‘Futurist’ and the name ‘Rusty Egan’ never appeared anywhere in the column for the first time in ages, which may well be in response to Record Shack’s comments of the last 2 weeks and the power of advertisers. However, James still managed to get a dig at Record Shack in Odds ‘N’ Bods, as seen above … (“Record Shack presumably will spell Michael McGloiry correctly on the label of his ever so “jazz-funk” single!”).

I notice Flicks had a big futurist nite so that means they had connections with jazz-funk, at the end of the decade acid house and at this time New Romantics. I doubt any other clubs could boast that distinction.

Obviously record shack later became well known for big hi energy crossover hits but I knew I had vague memories of them being big with jazz-funk tubes originally so my
memory wasn’t playing tricks.

I notice Debarge or as they’re known here the Debarges who for better or worse and in various permutations became sort of omnipresent later in the decade getting their first
mention here. I didn’t know they went back this far.